The European Commission makes a stand on recent human smuggling in the Mediterranean

On the occasion of the European Parliament plenary session of 13 January 2015, Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos spoke on human smuggling in the Mediterranean and the needed reaction of the EU

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Facts and figures on human smuggling in the Mediterranean

  • In 2014, more than 276 000 migrants arrived in the EU, which represents an increase of 138% compared to 2013;
  • Since the launch of the Joint Operation Triton on 1 November 2014, almost 16 000 asylum seekers and irregular migrants were rescued or intercepted and 57 facilitators arrested;
  • Over Christmas and New Year, 1200 migrants, of which mainly Syrians, were saved at sea;
  • Smugglers always find new routes to Europe. Turkey is currently one of the main country of departure to Europe;
  • So far, Member States have offered over 36 000 resettlement places to Syrian refugees.

On-going EU response to smuggling

The EU, its agencies and Member States have step up their cooperation and common action in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility, in particular:

  • Europol’s team in intelligence sharing and cross-border investigations of smugglers’ networks has been reinforced resulting in the arrest of hundreds of facilitators;
  • EASO launched a pilot project to gather information from asylum applicants about the routes taken during their journeys;
  • EU cooperation with Turkey on smuggling has been increased;
  • A resettlement and relocation forum has been set up by the Commission.

The way ahead: challenges and effective actions

The Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship has highlighted the following key orientations :

  • Need for a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to address both the roots of irregular migration and the constantly evolving strategies of smugglers;
  • Need for further financial and operational support of the Member States;
  • Making legal instruments against smuggling more effective;
  • Expending EU cooperation with third countries to broader foreign policy considerations, development assistance and humanitarian actions in order to impact on migration and smuggling;
  • Increasing the number of refugees resettled in Europe.

The full Commissioner’s speech is available.

Also see Fact Sheet - Questions & Answers: Smuggling of Migrants in Europe and the EU response

Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
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